


That's what you missed on SEVENTEEN Glee!

by alexiahayez



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Glee Club - Freeform, Glee References, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Show choir championship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, glee club au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:07:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28633743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexiahayez/pseuds/alexiahayez
Summary: Glee, 10 years after, with Soonhoon being the main pairing and SEVENTEEN as the rest of Glee Club + Ryan the Annoying One.Soonyoung needed to join Glee Club in order to get into Juilliard only to find amazing friends and an amazing boy to crush on. This fic references back about the original Glee Club a lot!
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Lee Seokmin | DK, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Intro: Glee!

**Author's Note:**

> So, someone on Twitter said that SEVENTEEN would definitely be a guest on Glee if the show still runs, and I realized that they are the theatre kids of Kpop yet they didn't even have a Glee Club!Au. 
> 
> I recommend you to click on the links I hyperlinked in the fics because it helps so much in understanding their performances!
> 
> Not beta-ed but will be after I finish it :D Enjoy reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Soonyoung joined the Glee Club?  
> And the origin of Whipped Soonyoung

“Sorry Soonyoung, there is nothing I can do to help” - Mrs. Kuo said with a regretful tone - “The Dance Club didn’t get enough people to join this year. I’m sorry to say it has to halt all activity starting from today.”

“No no no no, you can’t do that!” - Soonyoung was on the verge of standing up and screaming - “Dance Club is my life. Like I can get this school to National. I just need more time for recruitment.”

“Soonyoung, you said the same thing three months ago” - Mrs. Kuo sighed - “We’ve given you all the extension we can. We cannot fund a club with only 4 people in it. Only for this year, and you can always try again next year.”

“But Junhui and I will be graduating next year!” - Soonyoung raised his voice which caused Mrs. Kuo’s secretary to glare at him. He bowed lightly as an apology towards her - “I need this National title to get into Juilliard.” 

“Well, Juilliard only requires you to have one National championship in performing, it could be anything.” - Mrs. Kuo tried to calm the boy in front of her down.

“Yes, and to win a National championship I have to do what I’m best at, dancing.” - Soonyoung persisted - “Please give me more time.”

“No, Soonyoung” - Mrs. Kuo said - “What about you join some other clubs involving performing? Like Cheerleading or the Choir?”

“What?” 

“Oh, what about the Glee club? They perform, too. And you know McKinley’s Glee Club had never lost since Rachel Berry.”

As if on cue, the door of Mrs. Kuo’s office opened. A small, short little boy with pale white skin walked in with a box of different small championship cups. As Soonyoung looked closely, he recognized that the cups in the little boy’s box were Dance Club’s previous championship-winning tokens. 

“Mrs. Kuo?” - The boy spoke - “Thank you for lending the Glee Club the old practice room. We really need to step up our dancing if we don’t want to lose the Newer Direction’s 10th championship.”

Soonyoung jumped out of his seat as he heard what the boy said. Did the school really lend Glee Club his practice room? _Dance club’s_ practice room? 

“What did you say?” - Soonyoung walked closer to the boy which made him start to squirm.

“Mrs. Kuo…” - The boy called softly, feeling threatened - “Who is this…?”

“Jihoon, this is Soonyoung” - Mrs. Kuo said, pointing to the taller boy who was still cornering Jihoon - “He is, _was_ , the leader of the Dance club. If the Glee Club is still looking for back-up singers, Soonyoung can sing fairly well, too. He got an early call-back from Juilliard and the only requirement for him to get a scholarship to Juilliard is that he wins a National Championship in performing arts. He could be a great fit for the Newer Direction.”

Soonyoung tried his best not to give Mrs. Kuo a dead stare at that moment. 

“Did you say he was the leader of the Dance club?” - Jihoon’s eyes sparkled with joy as he asked.

“I AM the leader of the Dance Club.” - Soonyoung turned to Jihoon - “I still am, the Dance club is not dismissed yet.”

“Soonyoung…” - Mrs. Kuo moved her hand to rub her forehead. This kid was really determined with what he wanted to do, Mrs. Kuo admired him because of that, but sometimes his determination gives her a headache she couldn’t easily deal with.

“I would like to offer you a position in Glee Club” - Jihoon took the opportunity when Soonyoung turned around to look at Mrs. Kuo to push him out of the way and said - “We are looking to step up on the dancing side of performing. We heard the new Warblers are doing intense choreography for their Regionals and if even the Warblers have to dance, we know that the standards have changed.”

Soonyoung watched Jihoon closely, he couldn’t believe what he just heard. Did this boy just waltzed into his practice room, took away his sanctuary, and now asking him to join the stupid swinging-singing club? 5 years ago the Glee club was nothing, the Dance Club and the Cheerleading Club were the only two clubs bringing pride to McKinley High. He joined McKinley because of its amazing Dance Squad. This was degrading to put it lightly for Soonyoung. 

Jihoon still stared at Soonyoung as if he was waiting for a genuine answer. How naive was the boy? Something finally popped inside Soonyoung’s head. 

“And are you sure you are going to make it into Nationals? Because if I give up on persisting for the Dance club right now, I have no other chance to get into Juilliard.” 

“I’m positive.” - Jihoon answered - “The Newer Direction had never lost, not since Quinn Fabray took over as Vocal Coordinator, and definitely not when Kye Bumzu & Ailee returned from South Korea to become our coach.”

Soonyoung cocked his head. He stood there silent for a long while until Mrs. Kuo had to intervene by letting out a soft cough to drag Soonyoung out of his train of thought. 

“What do you say, Soonyoung?” - Mrs. Kuo broke the silence.

“I’ll think about it.” - Soonyoung said as he walked out of the office. 

Jihoon put the box he was holding on the shelf in Mrs. Kuo’s office as she instructed and ran after Soonyoung. He wanted to at least get the dancer’s contacts so that he could inform him about the upcoming Glee Club Induction Day. 

\--

“So” - A boy in a green hoodie holding a PS4 console and sitting on Soonyoung’s dorm couch spoke - “Are you joining the Glee Club or what?”

Soonyoung, who was working on his essay for Literature of Renaissance Period on his laptop, heard the obvious snickers from the other two boys in his room. He knew it, the moment he told the other guys of Dance club about Jihoon’s offer for him to join the Glee Club, he’d be the joke of the group until at least next Christmas. Dance Club was like the Cheerleading team, they never got over their prime time during Sue Sylvester, they kept on believing that Glee Club was still at the bottom of the food chain like back then. Soonyoung, though he didn’t consider himself an anti-Glee Club like the jocks and the cheer-squad, was still affected by that mindset from his two years in Dance Club. However, after Glee Club’s appearance on Good Morning, America and the departure of the previous Dance Club’s leader, Minho, due to his graduation, Glee Club started attracting more newbies than ever, leaving other clubs neglected. So, yes, Soonyoung did consider Glee Club his biggest rival, just like the rest of the clubs in McKinley. He just didn’t think that Dance Club would die in his reign, he’d go down in McKinley history as the leader that saw his own club’s downfall and couldn’t do anything. 

“You know, if we have half the members of the Glee Club, we’d be qualify to join Regionals.” - The boy in glasses sitting on Soonyoung’s bed finally spoke.

“Minghao… There is no -” - Just as Soonyoung wanted to remind Minghao to stop thinking about Regionals, a lightbulb went off in his head. He stood up and rushed to find his cellphone, which he mindlessly threw somewhere in his room when he came back - “No. You’re right, you’re absolutely right!”

“What is right?” - The boy in green hoodie asked, his eyes never left the TV screen. 

“About having half of the Glee Club members, Chan.” - Soonyoung answered, lifting his duvet to finally found his phone underneath. He quickly scrolled through the contact list to find the name of the small boy who was getting on his nerves at Mrs. Kuo’s office this morning. 

**[Hoshingie]**

Hey

About your invitation

I want to meet up to discuss a deal.

**[Uziverse]**

A deal?

Sounds scary

Okay, but warning

I almost fail International Business

**[Hoshingie]**

Not that kind of deal

But okay

See you in 30 @ the practice room

Soonyoung didn’t even let Jihoon reply to his message. He stood up almost immediately, grabbed his keys and jacket and left the room, leaving the other three members of the Dance Club dumbfounded in his room. 

“So… Anyone up for some spicy hotpot?” - The only member left who didn’t say anything since the beginning finally spoke up.

\-- 

“I have a proposal” - Soonyoung said immediately when Jihoon opened the practice room door. Jihoon looked like he just finished showering, hair still wet and he only had on a thin T-shirt despite it was only the middle of March.

“Well…” - Jihoon scanned Soonyoung from head to toe - “Aren’t you supposed to be on your knees for that?”

“What?” - Soonyoung cocked his head only to realize what Jihoon was meaning. He quickly shook his head - “No, not that kind of proposal. I have a proposition.”  
  


“Okay…?” - Jihoon said, he slowly sat down in front of Soonyoung - “I’m listening”.

Soonyoung took a deep breath. He knew what he was asking, and he was on the weaker side here. He knew Jihoon could decline his proposal, so he tried his best to tone down the irritation he had towards the Glee Club and to put on his best business/socialize smile.

“I will join the Glee Club, all 4 of us.” - He said - “And I’ll choreograph, teach your Glee kids how to dance, I’d even help you set a concept, if after Regionals, I get to take 9 of your best dancers to participate in the Dance-off Regionals.” - Soonyoung stopped to study Jihoon’s expression before continuing - “That way, you get your top-tier performance that would definitely secure your winning streak and I get enough people to continue the Dance Club. How does that sound?”

“Wait?” - Jihoon said.

Soonyoung’s heart dropped, of course he wouldn’t say yes to that, it was a big request, especially coming from a stranger like Soonyoung.

“That is actually really easy to arrange” - Jihoon giggled - “I thought you were going to ask us to give you back the practice room, that I can’t do. But you and your Dance club joining the Glee Club? That is an honour for us. Everyone is welcomed at Glee Club.”

“Wait you’re not going to say no?” - Soonyoung blurted out.

“Do you want me to say no? Honestly, I wouldn’t say no to performing.” - Jihoon said - “I myself actually is also not a bad dancer. I danced lead for the McKinley High’s Spring rendition of West Side Story last year.”

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon in surprise. He didn’t expect a choir nerd like someone from the Glee Club to actually dance. He thought they only stand, mouth the words and sway to the rhythm. Soonyoung didn’t believe Jihoon could dance, maybe what he did was following the steps and beat, but dancing, no.

“Show me then” - Soonyoung once again let his mouth run faster than his head. He only realized what he said was rude and with an obvious contemptuous tone. He waited for Jihoon to get mad and told him to stop being so arrogant, but instead, Jihoon stood up and took out his phone. He connected his phone to a working speaker and let the music fill the room. 

Jihoon moved to the music. He could actually [dance ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LObD0pV9Hl4&ab_channel=VOBO%EB%B3%B4%EB%B3%B4), with perfect movement hitting the beat everytime and a bold/sexy/cocky expression that Soonyoung was surprised to see on Jihoon’s face. However, only in the middle of dancing, Jihoon caught a glance of himself in the mirror of the practice room and realized there were only two of them there and got embarrassed, stopping his movements and smiled shyly. 

Soonyoung was captivated by Jihoon’s little show that he stood up and started dancing as well. Jihoon’s song ended and the next song on his shuffle list was [ Bazzi’s Myself ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnWQ9EKA_TM), one of Soonyoung's favorites and the most recent song he choreographed for his team.

Jihoon watched Soonyoung dance. He was captivated. He had seen a lot of performances growing up on Broadway with his favourite vocal teacher, Shelby Corcoran, but there was something new about Soonyoung’s dancing that he had never seen. A wilder, freer and less restricting dancing style. He could go from sexy in one second to completely powerful and energetic the next. 

Soonyoung and Jihoon soon turned their afternoon into a dance-off, with [ Chris Brown’s Love More ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nonCQY9kFPc&ab_channel=IsabellaTran) as the background, both of them took turns dancing, there was no restriction, just purely for fun and to learn each other’s dancing style. It wasn’t planned and they both went on for a long while, both of them didn’t notice that the Glee Club kids had gathered because one of them heard music coming out from the practice room and Instagram storied their performances. Soonyoung didn’t notice himself smiling that much until the song stopped and the kids from Glee Club gave them a big applause. That was when he noticed the corner of his lips had curved up since the middle of the dance-off. 

Jihoon grabbed a towel from the nearby shelf to wipe his sweat off. He never danced much so he got easily worn out, this was the most exercise he had done in his lifetime. 

“You’re good” - Soonyoung approached Jihoon, taking the towel from Jihoon hand - “Not bad for an amateur.”

“Well, technically I’m not an amature.” - Jihoon said - “I trained on Broadway for a couple of years before moving to McKinley. I got a lot of lessons on dancing.”

“You still need a lot of practice though” - Soonyoung said - “It is obvious I won that dance-off”

“No” - Jihoon immediately said back - “I won.”

“Honey” - Soonyoung said and Jihoon gagged at the pet name, knowing it had a sarcastic tone - “I won”

“In your dream, Kwon”

“Kids!” - Soonyoung turned around to face the crowd that was gathering at the practice room’s door - “Who danced better, me or your leader?”

“Yea kids” - Jihoon added, glaring at them - “I promise I won’t take your solo chances away.”

“That’s low, Lee” - Soonyoung smiled as he said - “Threatening the kids with their solo chances.”

“This is my club, you are my kid now, Kwon” - Jihoon said.

Soonyoung raised his hands in defeat. He must admit, the boy was pretty good. 

\--

“You’re kidding” - Chan, the youngest of the Dance Club, gasped in horror - “We are joining the Glee Club?”

“Yes” - Soonyoung deadpanned, scrolling through Twitter, and stopped when he saw a video someone took of them having a dance-off in the practice room earlier that day.

“No?” - Minghao said - “Why do you want to mingle with the choir nerds?”

“First of all, don’t call them the choir nerds” - Soonyoung sat up from his bed and said despite himself just calling the Glee Club choir nerds only a couple of hours ago - “And second, they have potential to be trained into Dance Club’s members. Their leader, Lee Jihoon, is actually a fairly good dancer as well.”

Soonyoung then proceeded to show his clubmates the video on Twitter. After the video was done, Minghao, Chan and Jun, all sat in silence. The little boy had skill, he could match up with Soonyoung’s level and they had similar styles as well. Well, Soonyoung was more comfortable with his body while the other boy still had a lot of restrictions to his movements, but that could easily be trained away through practice.

“He is…” - Minghao opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t think of the correct word to describe what he was trying to say.

“He is a diamond in the rough” - Soonyoung added, and Minghao nodded. Soonyoung smiled softly as he flopped back onto his bed and pressed replay on the video. 

It would not be a big problem but for the next two hours, that video was the only thing Soonyoung watched. He did open YouTube and searched up something only to decide that whatever he was trying to watch was not half as interesting as the video of him and Jihoon dancing. 

“You need to stop watching that video, it's creepy by now” - Chan said, eye-ing Soonyoung.

“It’s not creepy” - Soonyoung said - “I just look so good in this video”

“Come on, Kwon” - Jun said - “You know that you’re not the only one who looks good, otherwise you’d be watching your other dance videos instead of this particular video.”

Soonyoung stopped the video, turned to Jun, and used his best power to throw a pillow at him. Soonyoung did that when he felt embarrassed for being exposed. Jun knew it, Chan knew it, and Minghao knew it, too. 

“Anyways” - Soonyoung spoke again after Jun had to apologize for exposing their leader and promised him a meal at Breadstix - “We are joining the Glee Club, that’s final. We will be going to Induction Day this Friday.”

The answers that Soonyoung heard were all sighs of pain from his clubmates.

—

Soonyoung ran out of his last class on Friday like he was being chased by a ghost. He ran towards his practice room only to find Lee Jihoon beautifully playing the piano alone. He figured he would be the first one to come to Induction Day, but he didn’t expect Jihoon was going to be there first. Soonyoung wanted to use a couple of minutes before the Glee Club kids arrived to practice a little. He had not danced since the practice room was given to Glee Club, only practiced in his bedroom. He missed the feeling of being able to dance with mirror walls already.

However, Lee Jihoon was playing a soft piece on the newly placed piano at the corner of the practice room. Soonyoung couldn’t realize what Jihoon was playing, so he figured it must have been an older song, maybe from the New Direction’s era. 

Jihoon finished his last couple notes and looked up to a wide-eyed Soonyoung who looked like he was immersing in Jihoon’s music. Jihoon stood up and walked over to Soonyoung, and Soonyoung didn’t even notice until they were only a couple of centimeters away from each other. 

“Are you stalking me, Kwon?” - Jihoon startled Soonyoung, he took a couple of steps back and hit the locker wall behind him. 

“N-No” - Soonyoung stuttered, he was secretly listening to Jihoon playing the piano, which was in fact, creepy. He composed himself nevertheless and walked into the practice room like it was his own.

“Sit anywhere” - Jihoon said - “So, what did you think?”

“About what?” - Soonyoung said as he put his backpack down and chose a seat at the back.

“What you heard me play. It is my original song, after all. I want to hear from a unique listener” - Jihoon said as he turned his chair to face Soonyoung.

“Your song?” - Soonyoung blurted out in surprise - “That was your song?”

“Yea?” - Jihoon hummed - “Was it too bad?”

“No, not at all” - Soonyoung saw Jihoon flustered at what he said - “No, it was good. It should be recorded and posted for everyone to hear.”

“Well, it’s on my Soundcloud, but I don’t get that many listen since I don’t promote it.” - Jihoon said - “Only my closest friends know about it.” 

Soonyoung fought the urge to ask for Jihoon’s username there and now. Yet, as Jihoon said only some of his closest friends knew about the account, Soonyoung took time to reflect whether or not Jihoon considered him as a friend or just a mere stranger he had to work with. 

“You are the first to hear it, piano version” - Jihoon said, his lips curved into a soft smile. _He looks like a cat._ Soonyoung thought at that moment.

They talked for a while until the practice room’s door was opened again. It was the three other Dance club kids. The other Glee Club kids followed along not too long after, and the room was quickly filled with people. It was then the Glee Club’s coaches, Kye Bumzu and Ailee, walked in with a stack of paper. 

“Okay, I have the setlist for Regionals” - Kye Bumzu said excitingly - “But first, your leader, Jihoon, has something to say.”

Jihoon stood up and bowed softly to thank Bumzu for giving him a chance to talk. He stepped to the middle of the room and gestured to Soonyoung, Chan, Minghao, and Jun to stand up.

“As you may have heard, we will be joined by the 4 members of the Dance Club…” - Jihoon said. 

“The _only_ 4 members” - A kid in Glee Club snickered mockingly, which caused Jihoon to be very irritated, and he could see that Soonyoung was ready to throw hand.

“Ryan” - Jihoon’s tone got serious - “If you cannot respect your new clubmates, I would have to ask you to leave. Glee Club never condones such an attitude, you know that.”

The Ryan kid shut up and kept his head down. 

“The 4 members of the Dance Club will be helping us in putting up a show for the Regionals, as we know that the Warblers and the Vocal Adrenaline are both performing dance sequences, we cannot be the only club who get stuck with swinging and swaying. We need to step up our dance game, and the 4 of them are willing to help.” - Jihoon continued - “At the end of our Regionals, 9 of us, picked by the members of Dance Club, would join them to help them to go win their Dance Regionals. Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad deal. We get top-tier dancing performances, and they get enough people to keep their club.”

Murmurs could be heard, both Jihoon and Soonyoung knew that there were doubts in the Glee Club kids. However, the murmurs died down when Seokmin, one of the two vocal powerhouses of Glee Club, started clapping. Soon after, Seungkwan, the next-generation Mercedes Jones, joined him. The Glee Club kids ended up clapping for Jihoon as an acknowledgement and an agreement to what Jihoon was proposing. Kye Bumzu took it as a sign to start handing out the setlist for Regionals. 

Soonyoung took a glance through it and decided none of the songs on this list could win. He knew it for sure. Glee Club had the tendency to cover very old songs and though their remixes made some of them sound better, now that they had to choreograph the performances, these songs were too laid back and not upbeat enough for Soonyoung to guarantee a splendid performance. He raised his hand.

“Mr. Kye” - He said - “None of these songs are going to get you into Sectionals.”

Kye Bumzu raised his eyebrows, looking confusingly at Soonyoung. 

“No offense, Mr. Kye.” - Soonyoung said as he felt like the rest of Glee Club was glaring at him, only Jihoon was looking at him with confusion - “None of these songs are top-tier performance worthy. Glee Club needs to stop covering songs from the 2000s. These songs show off their amazing vocals, but they are not breakthrough, they are missing a fresh element to it.”

“Then what may you suggest, Mr. Kwon?” - Ryan snared. This cocky dancer just swooshed into Glee Club and started demanding on his first day already. 

“I suggest…” - Soonyoung said, running towards Jihoon and pulling Jihoon up by his wrist - “We let Jihoon write our original songs. I’ll work closely with him to give him my vision of how I want the song to be for the choreography. You guys did original songs before, Rachel Berry’s era, and became the talk of the state for like weeks.”

“Yes” - Ryan cut Soonyoung off, again - “But must I remind you that the New Direction only placed 12th at Nationals that year.”

“Because the 30-second kiss was gross and inappropriate” - Soonyoung retorted - “Also because the New Direction didn’t have Lee Jihoon.”

“I-” - Jihoon finally spoke - “I think it’s a good idea. To change up a bit after a while. We need more uniqueness and we need to take risks. We’ve been playing safe for too long now and the standards are way higher now. I think it’s time we self-produce our choreo and songs.”

“Yes” - Soonyoung spoke a bit too loud out of excitement - “Two captains, we’ll bring more to the stage than ever.”


	2. A friend that I never want to lose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Soonyoung.” - Jihoon growled, annoyed at how Soonyoung was so persistent even though he was only using the Glee Club to get his Dance Club to Regionals in the beginning. He had no commitment to the Glee Club, unlike Jihoon who gave three years of his life for the Newer Direction. Soonyoung could always go back to his Dance Club, but Jihoon only had Glee.
> 
> “I am not making promises” - Soonyoung said and snapped Jihoon out of his train of thoughts - “I am making a guarantee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, I may have to add a "light angst" tag...  
> Idk how it got this sad I was just trying to create some drama but it got out of hand...  
> Also, sorry Baekho but I was running out of names...

“You cannot do this to me!” - Jihoon’s voice, filled with distress, came out behind the door of the practice room - “Kang Dongho, you cannot cheat on me!”

Soonyoung regretted coming to the practice room too early now. Ever since he agreed that he’d help Jihoon in making original songs for the Glee Club, he had always been to the practice room an hour before the meeting time in order to talk with Jihoon about how they were going to structure the performances and the concept in which they would implement. It had only been two weeks, but Soonyoung felt like they were making really great progress, and the songs would be ready in maybe another week or two. 

However, as of then, he was standing in front of the practice room, unsure if he should open the door and walk in to stop Jihoon from fighting with Dongho, who he assumed was Jihoon’s boyfriend because he heard Jihoon said something about cheating. No, he was not a stalker, he just heard it on accident. Soonyoung stood with his eyes stuck to his phone screen in front of the practice room for a while before a tall, buff guy in a varsity jacket printed  _ McKinley Titans  _ on its back stormed out of the room, and Jihoon was left sitting by the piano in the practice room, looking deflated. 

“You ok there, Jihoon?” - Soonyoung looked into the room, cautiously moving inside. 

Jihoon was too busy thinking to reply to Soonyoung, he only looked up with his eyes damped with tears to see who was talking to him. Jihoon shook his head, biting back a loud sob, and for a moment there Soonyoung didn’t know how to proceed. He just stood there, looking at Jihoon like a kitty in distress, without knowing what to do, and what to say. 

“Thank you” - After a long five minutes that Soonyoung felt like an hour, Jihoon finally managed to mumble.

“For what?” - Soonyoung replied confusedly.

“For not asking anything, and for not pushing me to talk” - Jihoon said softly - “I am not in my best mood for a chat right now.”

Jihoon stopped for a while before continuing.

“That was my boyfriend…” - Jihoon began, only to be cut off by Soonyoung.

“If you don’t want to talk about it…” - Soonyoung sat next to Jihoon, made sure that Jihoon knew that he wasn’t obligated to tell Soonyoung anything, that even if they were working together then, they still had boundaries. 

“No it’s okay” - Jihoon let out a soft chuckle - “But thank you for giving me my boundaries” - Only to earn back a smile from Soonyoung before he continued - “He is not actually my boyfriend, because we never put a label on our relationship.”   
  


Soonyoung nodded as a sign of understanding, though he had different takes on a relationship, and that two people in a relationship should always be clear to each other, he respected Jihoon’s belief on his relationship.

“Yet, he kept using that to go out with different people, and he told me I had no rights to control him because I am not his ‘authentic’ boyfriend” - Jihoon put the ‘authentic’ in air quote - “Last night I found out he went out with someone else, and I don’t know I was okay with all other relationships, but this one I snapped. I think it’s because the other one was Jessica Quynn, you know, the head cheerleader…”

“Everyone has their breaking point, Jihoon” - Soonyoung said, clearly wasn’t the best thing to say to someone who was in distress, but it was the best he could come up with then.

“No, I think it’s because I’m scared.” - Jihoon shook his head sadly - “You know that I know very well that he was only okay with this relationship between us because I am the captain of Glee Club, the one other most popular club in this school beside the Football Team.” - Jihoon’s eyes showed a tint of vulnerability - “In this school, it’s all about hierarchy and popularity. It has always been.”

Soonyoung nodded. He understood what Jihoon was talking about. This school has a history of having a very intense caste system, where the populars get everything they want, and the losers live everyday through a living hell. Soonyoung had never had to experience it since he moved to this school with a scholarship in Performing arts and a three-time championship, but the Glee Club had only been popular for five years, their reputation wasn’t stable, at least not yet. 

“Do you…” - Soonyoung regretted the question the very moment he let it slip from his tongue - “have feelings for him?” 

_ Stupid Soonyoung, of course he has, otherwise why would he date him? _

Jihoon went silent a while, until he found his strength to shake his head softly, undecidedly. 

“I used to, I guess” - Jihoon said - “I did have feelings for him, enough to get me to endure being with him without a label.” - He played a few keys on the piano, as if to calm himself down before he burst into tears - “I’m not sure lately.”

“Then why didn’t you leave him?” - Soonyoung asked, this time he was genuinely curious.

“Because of the hierarchy. I’m the captain of a five-time championed club, and the football team never lost, we’re expected to date. We are like the Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson of this generation’s McKinley High.” - Again, Jihoon paused - “And to make sure that if we lose this Regionals, the Glee Club kids wouldn’t have to go back to being bullied by the jocks.”

“Jihoon…” - Soonyoung didn’t know what to say, he only reached out his hand and left Jihoon’s head a little  _ patpat _ , like how he usually comforted his kittens at home. 

“You’re treating me like a kid” - Jihoon finally laughed, softly, and it was then Soonyoung finally breathed. He didn’t even notice he was holding his breath seeing Jihoon so sad and upset. That was the first time he had to deal with someone getting upset in front of him though, usually he had Lee Chan who was really good with comforting people. He kept patting Jihoon’s head until he heard Jihoon say a soft “thank you” and turned to him with a wide smile. 

“Ewww” - Lee Chan’s voice came from the practice room’s door - “Get a room you two!”

That was when Soonyoung realized that they had been sitting there for over an hour, and the Glee Club kids were waiting at the practice room’s door, didn’t know if they should come in or not because they thought Jihoon and Soonyoung were having one of those intense discussing sessions. Until Chan opened the door and saw Soonyoung patting Jihoon’s head intimately.

“Now kids, what are we waiting for?” - Mr. Kye finally arrived and noticed the crowd in front of the practice room. 

“For Soonyoung to stop flirting with Jihoon” - Boo Seungkwan deadpanned as he entered the classroom and stared intensely at the other two.

“Boo, we’re not flirting.” - Soonyoung said because he knew Jihoon wouldn’t have the strength to deal with this right now - “Jihoon was sad, and I was merely comforting him.”

“Jihoon was sad?” - Boo Seungkwan gasped as if he just heard something scandalous - “Was it Dongho again? I swear to God I’ll…”

“Seungkwan!” - Jihoon cut Seungkwan off mid-sentence - “I’m fine. He’s fine. We just got into a small argument, that’s it. No harm done”

“You said it the last time…” - Seokmin sat down with a pout and commented on Jihoon’s statement.

Soonyoung didn’t say anything. Instead, he patted Jihoon’s back to signal him to step away from the piano so that Mr. Kye and Ms. Lee could start their meeting session. Jihoon moved to his seat, Soonyoung was about to go back and sit on his seat next to Junhui, on the opposite side of the classroom when Jihoon held him back. 

_ “I need emotional support” _ was all Jihoon said. Soonyoung looked over to his Dance team to seek for understanding, since he always sat with them, and luckily none of them had any issue with it. Well, how could they? Jihoon was clearly upset, and if Soonyoung could make him feel better, good for him.

“Okay everyone. If everything is sorted can we start on talking about Regionals?” - Ms. Lee said, looking over to Jihoon - “Jihoon, how are the songs coming?”

“I still need a little bit more time, you know. Since I’ve only got a few songs planned out but none of them I feel like it’d be competition-worthy” - Jihoon said sadly, he knew he let people down, because he himself was also disappointed with his products. 

“This is stupid” - Ryan spoke from the back of the room - “This entire original song idea is stupid! We should’ve stuck with what we usually do, but no, you let this nobody dancer waltz into our club and sabotage everything!”

“Ryan!” - Ailee warned, but Ryan only continued.

“Lee Jihoon, you’re supposed to be our leader, not the demise of this club!” - Ryan spoke a little bit louder, as if he was scolding Jihoon - “If I don’t know better I’d say you’re trying to ruin the Newer Direction’s chance at Regionals. You’ll be the first leader in the last five years to see the McKinley’s Glee Club go back to being at the bottom of the food chain!” 

“Do you, Ryan?” - Soonyoung finally spoke up after he noticed Jihoon could only look down and avoid everyone’s looks - “Do you know better?”

“Wh-what do you mean?” - Ryan was taken aback, he stuttered his words even though he was trying to act tough. 

“You said if you didn’t know better you’d say that Jihoon was trying to ruin the Newer Direction. Do you know better?” - Soonyoung repeated his words, glaring at Ryan who was surprised that Soonyoung was standing up for Jihoon.

“Well. Then how do explain that he still has no song for us, four weeks before the Regionals?” - Ryan smirked, collecting himself after being scared by Soonyoung - “We should be practicing by now! We should be having our setlist and feeling confident by now!”   
  


“So you’re saying that you have no confidence?” - Soonyoung asked as Jihoon silently pulled on his sleeve, signaling Soonyoung to stop.

“Kwon Soonyoung, what do you mean by that?” - Ryan stood up and charged forward, grabbing Soonyoung’s collar.

“Sit down now, Ryan!” - Mr. Kye warned.

“No, let him do it! See if he could run that fist of him like how he ran his mouth with his crap!” - Soonyoung provoked, smirking at Ryan. 

“Soonyoung!” - Jihoon stopped Soonyoung as he cleared his throat - “Both of you, stop it and return to your seat! This is from your team leader!”

Soonyoung backed up. He knew Jihoon didn’t want a fight to happen, and he knew that if he showed respect to Jihoon’s authority, he would make a good example for the rest of the club to follow, especially to someone like Ryan.

“No! You know what?” - Ryan scoffed - “I quit the Glee Club! You keep your little dancing loser, Jihoon. I’ll join the Vocal Adrenaline, at least they give their members Range Rovers!” 

Ryan glared at Soonyoung one last time before he grabbed his backpack and left the room. Soonyoung scoffed at his action as he sat down next to Jihoon, who was really flustered at what happened.

“Don’t worry, Jihoon, it’s not your fault…” - Soonyoung said as he once again _ patpat _ Jihoon’s fluffy head. Jihoon looked at Soonyoung as if he wanted to say something, but then decided to shake his head and didn’t say any word until the end of the meeting. 

The meeting was pretty boring. Without Jihoon’s songs, they couldn’t practice, and the Dance Club didn’t know what to choreograph, so they just talked a little bit about the concept they wanted to do for Regionals. Since the other groups would be doing dark and aggressive concepts, Mr. Kye and Soonyoung both agreed it would be best if the Newer Direction takes a different path, maybe a fresh and youthful concept. They couldn’t decide on how they’d develop their performances from there since Jihoon’s songs were incomplete, so Mr. Kye decided to let them off early that day. Jihoon sighed relievedly, he couldn’t handle one more minute feeling so useless and anxious.

“Hey Jihoon” - Soonyoung reached out to Jihoon after the meeting ended - “Do you want to come over to my place to discuss how we can develop the fresh and youthful concept?”

“I don’t think I can, Soonyoung” - Jihoon said as he tried his best to fake a smile, but his tone was sad - “I think I’ll come over to Dongho’s later. You know, to apologize…”

“For what?” - Soonyoung cut Jihoon off, his voice filled with irritation - “He cheated on you.”

“But we aren’t dating. I shouldn’t have gotten jealous…” - Jihoon said, only to have Soonyoung moved closer to him and stared at him with his deep, brown eyes.

“Jihoon, you need to open your eyes to see the toxicity of this relationship.” - Soonyoung said, but Jihoon shook his head. 

  
“I need him, Soonyoung” - Jihoon said, but it sounded desperate, like a plea - “You heard Ryan, we couldn’t practice today because I couldn’t deliver my songs. We might have a chance of losing, and the Newer Direction would go back to being at the bottom of the food chain. At least if I am playing boyfriends with Dongho, he and the football team wouldn’t touch the Glee kids.” - Jihoon stopped and sighed - “I can’t risk having my juniors being hurt because of me.”

“You don’t need him, Jihoon'' - Soonyoung held onto Jihoon’s shoulders - “You don’t need him. The Newer Direction is no longer what they were five years ago. One lost won’t make them go back to the bottom of the food chain. The kids trust you, you will do well, we will win. I will make sure no one touches the Glee Club. I guarantee.”

“Soonyoung” - Jihoon raised his hand to get Soonyoung off his shoulders - “You’ll be graduating next year, so am I. How can we guarantee that no one could harm them?”

“Because we are going to win!” - Soonyoung stated strongly - “I can make sure of that. I can make sure that you guys give the best performance that night, you’ll win, you’ll go to Sectionals, and Nationals, and you’ll be the reigning winner again! I can promise you that. Trust me, Jihoon.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Soonyoung.” - Jihoon growled, annoyed at how Soonyoung was so persistent even though he was only using the Glee Club to get his Dance Club to Regionals in the beginning. He had no commitment to the Glee Club, unlike Jihoon who gave three years of his life for the Newer Direction. Soonyoung could always go back to his Dance Club, but Jihoon only had Glee.

“I am not making promises” - Soonyoung said and snapped Jihoon out of his train of thoughts - “I am making a guarantee.”

“Soonyoung…” - Jihoon was about to say something again, but Soonyoung beat him for it.

“You don’t need Dongho, Jihoon” - Soonyoung repeated - “Heck, you don’t even need me. You are Lee Jihoon who led the Newer Direction to its 10th championship. You can trust yourself. I know you’re scared from what Dongho and Ryan said, but you don’t have to be. Of all the people at this school, those two are the only idiots who doubt you. The rest of us love, trust and admire you.”

Jihoon stood there quietly. He let himself be drowned in Soonyoung’s sweet praises. He knew he couldn’t trust someone that quick, especially someone he had only met two weeks ago. Yet, there was this energy that Soonyoung was trying to convey to Jihoon, the energy of trust and encouragement that Jihoon never knew he needed. Jihoon took a while being silent with his head down, and Soonyoung was patient enough to keep Jihoon company. Until Jihoon could work up the courage to finally look at Soonyoung again.

“Can I trust you, Soonyoung?” - Jihoon asked, tugging softly on Soonyoung’s shirt. 

“Yes.”- Soonyoung smiled at the question, and he tried his best to sound as confident he could be at that moment - “You can.”

The next thing Soonyoung knew was Jihoon already took out his phone, sent a quick text to Dongho, blocked all Dongho’s contact on his phone and social media, and deleted Dongho’s number.

\--

“Seokmin” - Lee Chan said. Since the Glee Club ended early that day, Lee Chan, Junhui and Seokmin from the Glee Club decided to take a coffee break at Lima Bean, one of the most popular hang out places for the kids of McKinley High. Lee Chan was waiting for his order when he noticed the barista was staring at Seokmin, Glee Club’s main vocalist, intensely - “The barista is flirting with you.”

Seokmin glanced over, but he didn’t catch the barista’s eyes in time. The barista was already talking to another customer by the time he could look at him. Seokmin smiled and shook his head.

“No way” - Seokmin said to Lee Chan while stirring his hot chocolate - “He’s not flirting with me. Though he is very very cute”

“I am totally flirting with you.” - The barista, who approached them silently and had been there for a bit, spoke - “Thank you for the compliment as well. So, who are you with the beautiful smile?”

Seokmin was too shocked all he could make from his throat was a little whine and incoherent words. Lee Chan and Junhui rolled their eyes, and Lee Chan finally took the liberty to take Seokmin’s phone from his pocket and gave it to the barista.

“His name is Seokmin, please input your phone number and name in this device.” - Lee Chan said jokingly, mimicking a telephone customer service worker. 

“Great!” - The barista smiled, and Seokmin felt like he could faint - “My name is Joshua Hong. I’ll be working here on Monday, Wednesday and both days of the weekend.”

“He’ll see you!” - Junhui promised and Joshua smiled before saying he couldn’t leave the counter for too long and ran back to his station.

Seokmin took another five minutes to calm down. An angel just approached him, and he couldn’t even say anything. If Seokmin could travel back in time for three minutes, he would punch himself awake, because he just missed on the perfect chance to ask a cute boy out. 

The three of them hung out for a couple of hours, talking and laughing while discussing the relationship between their leaders as they saw them being very close earlier that day. It wasn’t until Junhui looked up and found Joshua walking out from the staff’s room that he panicked and quickly signaled Lee Chan and Seokmin to leave the place.

“Joshua is a Warbler.” - Junhui said.

\--

Boo Seungkwan came to the practice room the next day with a bruise on his left eye and covered in Slushies. Jihoon immediately knew who was the culprit of this attack, and Soonyoung did too. Mr. Kye told both of them to stay down and keep calm while he went to talk to the principle, but Soonyoung got overwhelmed with anger that he dashed to the football field the very moment Mr. Kye and Ms. Lee left the room. 

Jihoon couldn’t stop Soonyoung, and the next thing he knew he was sitting in Mrs. Kuo’s office with Dongho’s parents and Soonyoung’s parents. Soonyoung’s parents were apologizing frantically while glaring at Soonyoung with a bandaged fist, and Dongho was putting ice packs on the bruises that he got from Soonyoung’s punch. 

“I won’t suspend you, Mr. Kwon, considering that you have been a good student for the last three years, and this is your first slip-up” - Mrs. Kuo finally concluded - “However, you will have to write an apology essay to Dongho and his parents, as well as spending the next 3 afternoons away from the practice room and in detention.”

“An apology essay?” - Soonyoung jumped from his seat while raising his voice - “Please just suspend me already, Mrs. Kuo. I did nothing wrong! Dongho should be apologizing for attacking the Glee Club’s kids.”

“Mr. Kang would also be punished according to his mistake, Soonyoung” - Mama Kwon raised her voice to discipline Soonyoung - “You should do what’s told and lose the attitude.”

“MOM” - Soonyoung whined, but Mama Kwon was not having it. Instead she bowed to Dongho’s parents and apologized one more time before leaving with her husband, telling Soonyoung that they would talk later after school was over. 

“I’m sorry Jihoon” - Soonyoung said after they left Mrs. Kuo’s office - “I won’t be able to help you for the next three days.”

“It’s okay, Soonyoung” - Jihoon smiled - “Thank you for standing up for the Glee Club, though.”

They sighed at the panic voices coming from the practice room the moment they came back. Apparently, Ryan had joined the Vocal Adrenaline and told them about the Newer Direction’s plan to use original songs to compete. Vocal Adrenaline’s coach had requested to hire a professional producer for Vocal Adrenaline and got accepted by Carmel High’s board of directors. They would be contacting PRISMFILTER to produce their music, the three-time Grammy’s award winner.

Jihoon felt like he couldn’t breath.

He couldn’t breath. 

He felt like he could faint.

He needed to lie down.

“Jihoon” - He could only hear Soonyoung’s worried call before he lost all consciousness.

\--

Jihoon woke up in his room, Soonyoung’s voice could be heard from the other side of his door. Soonyoung sounded like he was walking to his parents, explaining what happened and why he had to drive Jihoon home unconscious. 

Jihoon heard Soonyoung’s voice, but he didn’t want to come out. He didn’t want to move. He only wanted to be under his cover, he just wanted to sleep. It’d be better if he just let go of everything and sleep away all the complicated feelings he was feeling. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to see Soonyoung, he couldn’t face his Glee Club’s members, he couldn’t face Mr. Kye. He was an incompetent leader, a failure to the Glee Club because of his eager to show off his skills in producing. He was stupid, and he had ruined everything.

_ I’m barely breathing _

_ Like I forgot how _

_ It’s too hard for me _

_ To be lenient with myself. _

Jihoon spent that night scribbling words down to his notebook. Lyrics, if it could be. He just let his heart pour out, he didn’t want to hold anything back.

_ I’m in trauma it’s got me singing _

_ Stuck in trauma I just wanna sing _

_ Blah blah blah blah why can’t I forget _

_ That’s my trauma, my trauma yeah. _

He stayed up until the next sunrise, notebook filled with scribbles. Scribbles about his fear, about his worries, about his feelings, and about Soonyoung. 

_ Daydreaming in the _

_ Midst of the night _

_ You brush my thoughts _

_ And sweep my sleep away _

About Soonyoung who just came to him, just like his musical inspiration. His friend, the one who seemed so close though he knew Soonyoung was just helping him because he wanted to win for the Dance Club. Dance Club had been Soonyoung’s life, just like Jihoon with the Glee Club. He knew that Soonyoung’s kindness right now was just because Soonyoung was a kind and justice person, and Soonyoung was thinking about Glee Club members as if they were his Dance Club members. Soonyoung would disappear from Jihoon’s life the very moment they won at Nationals. 

_ Tears fall again _

_ Clueless tears fall _

_ Why do I miss you? _

_ Don't really quite know, I don't really know. _

But Soonyoung taught Jihoon that he didn’t need Dongho to protect the Newer Direction. Soonyoung told Jihoon he could trust him. 

“Soonyoung is a good friend.” - Jihoon thought to himself - “A friend that I never want to lose.”

_ I grew apart, will you be able to embrace me? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways, you can see that one Glee AU! chapter is twice as long as I'll Love You, Stranger!, so the update could take longer. However, I love this AU! so much I'm thinking of expanding it to more than 7 chapters, we'll see how it goes now that I've added the angst haha =))
> 
> The lyrics translations were all taken from Genius. Trauma and Well/I Don't Know are both sad songs ;-; It even added to the upcoming angst lol

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a Glee Club Au Soonhoon/SEVENTEEN fic because we all need it. There will be 7 chapters, 1 for introduction, 2 for Regionals, 2 for Sectionals, and 2 for Nationals. I'll update this along with I'll love You, Stranger!  
> Thanks for reading and see you next update!  
> Anyways, hit me on Twitter @alxhayz


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